BONE MICROARCHITECTURE: AN ALTERNATE APPROACH FOR FRACTURE RISK ESTIMATION

Abstract

The indication of Osteoporosis includes both, the reduction in bone mineral mass and the consequent change in bone microarchitecture. The weakness of bones due to degradation of trabecular microarchitecture is the major result of osteoporosis and vertebral fracture. Investigating microarchitecture of the bone is the key to predicting fracture risk in osteoporosis at an earlier stage. A significant amount of literature has been published indicating that the microarchitecture of bone is correlated to bone texture appearing in an X-ray. The understanding and classification of the bone texture should help to estimate bone fracture risk. This will also help to diagnose Osteoporosis at an earlier stage through plain X-rays, which is currently been done through expensive Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA, previously DEXA) scans. This is especially helpful in developing countries like in the sub-continent, which are densely populated with relatively higher proportion of population being susceptible to Osteoporosis.